Alien Nation

The saga of space aliens on Earth resumes on Fox tonight with a movie-length sequel to the series "Alien Nation," while DNA evidence is applied to an old mystery on "Nova."* "Baseball League Championship Series" (8 p.m.-11 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- We're going to see only the American League series here this year, under the game's ridiculous who's-on-first playoff system. But after Seattle's surprising knock-out of the New York Yankees, the Mariners/Cleveland Indians matchup could be a good one. ABC.* "Alien Nation: Body and Soul" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45)

Michael Foehrkolb will be out of the office today. He has aliens to slaughter, a plague to stop and friends to humiliate. Although he's been a fan of video games for most of his life, the 35-year-old network administrator has never taken a day off work just to play a new one. But then again, there has never been a game more anticipated than Halo 3. The game arrives in stores today on the heels of a marketing blitz and a potential payout worthy of...

By David Zurawik and David Zurawik,Sun Television Critic | October 25, 1994

If you missed the Fox TV series "Alien Nation," try to imagine "The Coneheads" played without laughs.A movie based on the cancelled series airs at 8 tonight on WBFF (Channel 45), and it's an exercise in science fiction meeting political correctness, with a possible intergalactic war in which the fate of the universe might be at stake -- not to mention the future of mankind.Science fiction writers tend to think in big, big terms.But the appeal of "Alien Nation: Dark Horizon," which is a not-half-bad film, isn't in the special effects, which are just OK. The appeal is in the earthly matters that concern the humans and the aliens, who are called Newcomers.

By David Bianculli and David Bianculli,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | November 12, 1996

On the nonfiction side, the show to watch is tonight's continuing saga of "The Great War," which contains the most potent images and segments of the entire series. On the fiction side, the show not to miss is "Mad About You," where Jamie's parents arrive for the first time -- and are played by Carroll O'Connor and Carol Burnett."Roseanne" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2)-- Wouldn't it be funny if Ralph and Alice Kramden hit the lottery and got to rub elbows with the upper class? I don't think it would -- at least not based on "Roseanne," which this season, ever since allowing the Conners to strike it rich, has been poor.

By David Bianculli and David Bianculli,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | November 12, 1996

On the nonfiction side, the show to watch is tonight's continuing saga of "The Great War," which contains the most potent images and segments of the entire series. On the fiction side, the show not to miss is "Mad About You," where Jamie's parents arrive for the first time -- and are played by Carroll O'Connor and Carol Burnett."Roseanne" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2)-- Wouldn't it be funny if Ralph and Alice Kramden hit the lottery and got to rub elbows with the upper class? I don't think it would -- at least not based on "Roseanne," which this season, ever since allowing the Conners to strike it rich, has been poor.

Lawyers, aliens and talk-radio folks nothing but the best on TV tonight.* "Alien Nation: Millennium" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- "Can't we all get along?" Years before Rodney King, the folks at "Alien Nation" were asking much the same question through this series about beings from two planets forced to co-exist. The new sequel to the series, which went off the air in 1991, premieres with a built-in following that should ensure it a pretty good-sized audience. The series always had a clever premise, cleverly executed, so the movie -- essentially a crime story about a secret sect -- should be worth watching.

By David Bianculli and David Bianculli,Special to The Sun | October 25, 1994

A series that had developed a cult following before being canceled returns from the dead tonight -- an event not every cult can claim about the object of its devotion. Also tonight, "Dateline NBC" begins its coverage of the World Series that wasn't, while Biography on A&E tackles a monster subject: Frankenstein.* "Alien Nation: Dark Horizon" (8-10 p.m., Channel 45) -- Two of the writer-producers of "Northern Exposure," Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, take a career step backward, so to speak, by writing a new installment of the previous series on which they worked.

Angelique Trouvere was about one week and 800 miles off from Mardi Gras.But, as she paraded about in white netting, lace and beads with a Mae West pucker on her lips and a Madonna swagger, the comic book store sales clerk from Norfolk, Va., looked as if she could have won first prize on Bourbon Street.But what about the "Alien Nation" look-alikes from Lincoln, Neb.? the California woman strutting in a show-stopping peacock feathered dress? Or the king and queen of the spider court whose red, purple and black costumes required 240 yards of netting to make?

There is a sense in which current immigration policy is Adolf Hitler's posthumous revenge on America. The U.S. political elite emerged from the war passionately concerned to cleanse itself from all taints of racism or xenophobia. Eventually, it enacted the epochal Immigration Act (technically, the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments) of 1965.And this, quite accidentally, triggered a renewed mass immigration, so huge and so systematically different from anything that had gone before as to transform -- and ultimately, perhaps, even to destroy -- the one unquestioned victor of World War II: the American nation, as it had evolved by the middle of the 20th century.

By David Zurawik and David Zurawik,Sun Television Critic | September 22, 1991

Maybe we don't belong here. We just don't fit in."That was Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty) of "Beverly Hills 90210," speaking last year shortly after she and twin brother Brandon (Jason Priestley) moved to California. They had gotten off to a rocky start at their new high school, but she was echoing a sentiment voiced by other characters on other shows that have become hits.Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) said much the same thing when he arrived from New York in the town of Cicely, Alaska, on "Northern Exposure.

Lawyers, aliens and talk-radio folks nothing but the best on TV tonight.* "Alien Nation: Millennium" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- "Can't we all get along?" Years before Rodney King, the folks at "Alien Nation" were asking much the same question through this series about beings from two planets forced to co-exist. The new sequel to the series, which went off the air in 1991, premieres with a built-in following that should ensure it a pretty good-sized audience. The series always had a clever premise, cleverly executed, so the movie -- essentially a crime story about a secret sect -- should be worth watching.

The saga of space aliens on Earth resumes on Fox tonight with a movie-length sequel to the series "Alien Nation," while DNA evidence is applied to an old mystery on "Nova."* "Baseball League Championship Series" (8 p.m.-11 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- We're going to see only the American League series here this year, under the game's ridiculous who's-on-first playoff system. But after Seattle's surprising knock-out of the New York Yankees, the Mariners/Cleveland Indians matchup could be a good one. ABC.* "Alien Nation: Body and Soul" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45)

There is a sense in which current immigration policy is Adolf Hitler's posthumous revenge on America. The U.S. political elite emerged from the war passionately concerned to cleanse itself from all taints of racism or xenophobia. Eventually, it enacted the epochal Immigration Act (technically, the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments) of 1965.And this, quite accidentally, triggered a renewed mass immigration, so huge and so systematically different from anything that had gone before as to transform -- and ultimately, perhaps, even to destroy -- the one unquestioned victor of World War II: the American nation, as it had evolved by the middle of the 20th century.

By David Zurawik and David Zurawik,Sun Television Critic | October 25, 1994

If you missed the Fox TV series "Alien Nation," try to imagine "The Coneheads" played without laughs.A movie based on the cancelled series airs at 8 tonight on WBFF (Channel 45), and it's an exercise in science fiction meeting political correctness, with a possible intergalactic war in which the fate of the universe might be at stake -- not to mention the future of mankind.Science fiction writers tend to think in big, big terms.But the appeal of "Alien Nation: Dark Horizon," which is a not-half-bad film, isn't in the special effects, which are just OK. The appeal is in the earthly matters that concern the humans and the aliens, who are called Newcomers.

By David Bianculli and David Bianculli,Special to The Sun | October 25, 1994

A series that had developed a cult following before being canceled returns from the dead tonight -- an event not every cult can claim about the object of its devotion. Also tonight, "Dateline NBC" begins its coverage of the World Series that wasn't, while Biography on A&E tackles a monster subject: Frankenstein.* "Alien Nation: Dark Horizon" (8-10 p.m., Channel 45) -- Two of the writer-producers of "Northern Exposure," Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, take a career step backward, so to speak, by writing a new installment of the previous series on which they worked.

By David Zurawik and David Zurawik,Sun Television Critic | September 22, 1991

Maybe we don't belong here. We just don't fit in."That was Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty) of "Beverly Hills 90210," speaking last year shortly after she and twin brother Brandon (Jason Priestley) moved to California. They had gotten off to a rocky start at their new high school, but she was echoing a sentiment voiced by other characters on other shows that have become hits.Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) said much the same thing when he arrived from New York in the town of Cicely, Alaska, on "Northern Exposure.

Michael Foehrkolb will be out of the office today. He has aliens to slaughter, a plague to stop and friends to humiliate. Although he's been a fan of video games for most of his life, the 35-year-old network administrator has never taken a day off work just to play a new one. But then again, there has never been a game more anticipated than Halo 3. The game arrives in stores today on the heels of a marketing blitz and a potential payout worthy of...

For the fifth -- and apparently final -- time, those refugees from the planet Tencton are back in prime-time.Gary Graham and Eric Pierpoint return as detectives Sikes and Francisco in "Alien Nation: The Udara Legacy" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45), trying to figure why a bunch of seemingly normal newcomers (including a police officer) are turning into kamikaze assassins.The film -- like the series it succeeded -- is hardly subtle, as it asks questions about why people can't simply get along with one another (the newcomers are exiles from their home planet regarded with suspicion by some native Earthlings)

Angelique Trouvere was about one week and 800 miles off from Mardi Gras.But, as she paraded about in white netting, lace and beads with a Mae West pucker on her lips and a Madonna swagger, the comic book store sales clerk from Norfolk, Va., looked as if she could have won first prize on Bourbon Street.But what about the "Alien Nation" look-alikes from Lincoln, Neb.? the California woman strutting in a show-stopping peacock feathered dress? Or the king and queen of the spider court whose red, purple and black costumes required 240 yards of netting to make?